WEATHER TERM CAUSES STORM OF CONTROVERSY

1 WEATHER WARNING

A wall of dust raced toward Lubbock, Texas, on Sunday, and the U.S. National Weather Service threw out a word of caution on its Facebook page. “A haboob is rapidly approaching the Lubbock airport and may affect the city as well,” the meteorologists wrote.

2 ARABIC ROOTS

The use of the meteorological term “haboob,” a word with Arabic roots, didn’t sit well with some residents. Reader Brenda Daffern was among those who wrote angry replies: “In Texas, nimrod, this is called a sand storm. We’ve had them for years! If you would like to move to the Middle East you can call this a haboob.”

3 IF THE TERM FITS ...

The use of “haboob” was entirely appropriate. It describes a situation in which a collapsing thunderstorm exhales a burst of wind. This burst of wind collects dust in the surrounding arid environment. The dust can grow into a towering dark cloud, the so-called haboob, that sweeps across the landscape, cutting visibility to near zero.

4 ORIGIN OF WORDS

Many weather terms we use are derived from other languages — hurricane, tornado and El Niño are all Spanish in origin. Tsunami is Japanese. As for using dust storm or sand storm instead of haboob, they’re not the same. Dust storms typically cover a large area, as opposed to the narrow zone of a haboob. Sand storms occur when sand grains are blown across the lowest few metres of the landscape.

5 LISTEN Y’ALL

The complainers didn’t get the last word. A number of readers posted strongly worded retorts. Charles Russell said: “Do you all realize how stupid y’all look? I mean, the rest of the country and the world is laughing at y’all … stop getting offended over nothing. It’s super annoying to the civilized world.”